A theme this week is authenticity. Are you who you say you are? Are you human? Are you communicating clearly enough for AI to understand? Do you want AI to understand? Would you like a social feed of just AI-generated content? Do you want an AI friend?
OK, I’m getting off track. But trying to elevate the “authentic” over the “fake” is going to be an ongoing topic of discussion.
In any case, there are updates for video creators from YouTube, Spotify, Edits and Substack; for web publishers from AdSense and Google Search; and social media for Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Reddit and more.
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Top news and updates this week
- YouTube’s improved mid-roll ad serving starts May 12th. Creators in the YouTube Partner Program should check their settings.
- Brands have more tools to connect with YouTube Creators, including AI-powered Insights Finder and a new Creator Partnership Hub.
- YouTube is removing the “return to original” option in the Studio video editor. Save a copy before editing!
- Spotify introduced the new “plays” metric for video and audio podcasts. It’s both publicly visible and available on the creator dashboard in more detail.
- Substack lets you live stream just audio, no video.
- Edits, Instagram’s video editing app, has updates to text, filters, transitions and more.
- AdSense for Content has moved Auto Optimize from Experiments to the Ads page with new site-level settings. This will be turned on by default for new sites.
- The January version of the Google Search Quality Rater guidelines target fake EEAT. Read before you create AI author profiles!
- Is your website in the Google Search results? This week there are articles about auto-translating your text, optimizing for AI Overviews, and writing for both SEO and people.
- Microsoft is adding Copilot AI powered tools to Windows, including Photos, Paint and the Snipping Tool.
- Figma announced a suite of new AI-powered features including Figma Make, Figma Sites, Figma Draw and Figma Buzz (collaborative social media content creation).
- Meta announced an expansion of the Partnership Ads Hub and Instagram Creator Marketplace, plus live streaming partnership ads.
- Meta.ai is a social feed of just AI-generated content. And you can add yours.
- Threads lets you check your account and post status, to see if there are any issues.
- Reddit “works because it’s human”. Soon they will start to confirm that accounts are actually human and owned by an adult or teen. And they will do it in a way that preserves anonymity.
- Gemini in Maps can identify locations in screenshots and save them in a list.
- Google Vids now lets Workspace business and enterprise generate video with Veo 2.
- Automattic’s Gravatar lets you create a profile to inform interactions with AI.
- Google is using AI to “supercharge safe browsing”.
- Plus there are interesting articles this week about creators and information, owning your audience, Google’s move to fund movies, and YouTubers taking over Hollywood.
🗓 Ten Years Ago This Week: YouTube Removed Subscription Collections
To celebrate 10 years of Creator Weekly, I’m sharing highlights from 2015.Ten years ago YouTube killed subscription collections. Do we need them back to make subscriptions useful? I’m in favor.
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To Do & Try
On May 13, at 10 AM Pacific time, the pre-Google I/O Android Show will be live. Set a reminder or watch on YouTube.Video Creator and Live Streaming Updates
YouTube’s change to mid-roll ad serving goes into effect on May 12. This is your last chance to opt out of having automatic mid-rolls enabled on your older videos. YouTube posted a reminder on how to best optimize ads on your content, and notes they are improving the algorithms that insert mid-rolls at natural breakpoints.Google Ads announced tools for brands to connect with YouTube creators (Social Media Today has more context):
- Creator Partnership Hub with video discovery, creator search, and reporting for linked videos.
- Insights Finder, which lets you search “YouTube’s vast library” to find creators using AI-powered search. It includes demographics and info about a creator's fandom.
- API tools for influencer agencies and Software as a Service (SaaS) companies.
- Partnership Ads powered by YouTube BrandConnect. BrandConnect is available to channels in the YouTube Partner Program with ad revenue sharing based in an eligible country (Brazil, India, Indonesia, UK, US).
- Creator Lead-Ins through Takeovers that start videos with a “personalized message from the creator”, with Takeovers available to more brands and creators.
YouTube busted some myths about Shorts. The bottom line: you should definitely create Shorts. It won’t harm your long form content performance, and it isn’t just young people dancing.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan spoke at the World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai, India. His speech emphasized “India’s emergence as a ‘Creator Nation’”, empowered by YouTube (of course).
Spotify has introduced “plays” as a new podcast metric. It will combine both audio and video content engagement and be visible to fans (rounded to the nearest thousand or million). Consumption Hours is also now available on the home dashboard. This offers “a clear way to measure which podcast episodes capture the most attention on Spotify”, for both creators and fans. Monetization eligibility will continue to be based on streams with at least 60 seconds of engagement (which is the podcast industry standard).
Substack now lets you live stream just your audio. Best I can tell it’s a toggle to turn off your video, which surprisingly was not previously available.
Edits, Instagram’s video editing app updated this week with 50+ text animations, 11 styles of automatic captions, “safe zone” guides for positioning elements, 30 transitions, 30 filter options, and the option to select the frame rate when exporting the video.
Zach Bussey reports that Twitch now has a process for managing a deceased person’s account.
Web Publishers and Search
AdSense for Content is launching improvements to Auto Optimize. This feature lets Google run experiments on ad format settings on your site.- It’s graduating from Experiments to the Ads page in your AdSense account. You can easily see if it’s turned on or off.
- You can turn on or off Auto Optimize at the site level.
- When you add a new site “Auto optimize will be turned on with "Auto-apply experiment winner" selected, 50% traffic, and no blocked experiments by default.”
- You can (optionally) allow Google to automatically apply the experiment winner.
What’s happening to Google Search? Apple says search queries from Safari are down for the first time in decades. Google says they see “an increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms.” That implies that people are using either the Google app or a browser other than Safari for search.
SEO Journal notes: Google Search Quality Raters’ Updated Guidelines (January 2025) Target Fake EEAT Content (Expertise Experience Authoritativeness Trustworthiness). This includes AI-generated author profiles, factually incorrect information about creator expertise, or fake business details.
Harry Clarkson-Bennett has a nice overview of how to write for both people and SEO (and bots). It should be easily readable and well-structured, which makes sense.
Glenn Gabe looked at how Reddit’s auto-translated content seems to be ranking well in Google Search, and what that might mean for your own content. Not surprisingly, there’s no clear answer, but he goes through the policies you should consider before publishing AI-translated content.
Barry Adams at “SEO for Google News”
wrote about how to optimize your websites for AI Overviews, including writing clearly with content in concrete sections. This is also
good for human readers! He also touches on some of the concerns about AI
Overviews and AI Mode, including hallucinations and the lack of clicks to the
source web pages.
Oliver Darcy reports on “The Daily Dot’s Doom”, “After a sharp and abrupt traffic collapse, The Daily Dot was forced to lay off much of its staff - and it may be a preview of the tough road ahead for digital publishers.” A caveat: Darcy does not appear to identify the source of traffic that collapsed, which makes it harder to understand what happened here.
At Config 2025 Figma announced a suite of new features: Figma Make (prompt-to-code, for example interactive elements), Figma Sites (website builder), Grid (a new auto layout option), Figma Draw (visual design and “free-form creation” tools), and Figma Buzz (collaborative design of social media assets, event materials, and the like, all on brand). It feels like it’s converging with Canva (which I know some “real” designers shun).
Broderick and Adam Bumas also wrote an article about how “AI content has been devouring Pinterest for months”. It remains to be seen if its new generative AI labels make a difference.
Threads now lets you check your account status, where you can see if you have any content removed or content that won’t be recommended. It also has an option to appeal.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently testified that TikTok triggered a 40% drop in time spent on Instagram (hence the scramble to try to get those users back).. And they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get creators on the platform.
Ex-Facebooker Sarah Wynn-Williams’ book “Careless People” reports on disturbing ad targeting. As Futurism reports: Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman (u/spez) noted “Reddit works because it’s human” and he acknowledged that anonymity (or pseudonymity) is essential to the platform. But that’s not enough. He wrote:
“To keep Reddit human and to meet evolving regulatory requirements, we are going to need a little more information. Specifically, we will need to know whether you are a human, and in some locations, if you are an adult. But we never want to know your name or who you are. The way we will do this is by working with various third-party services that can provide us with the essential information and nothing else.”
Bots will continue to be allowed on Reddit, as long as they are clearly labeled.
US tariffs on Chinese imports may affect the bottom line of Meta, LinkedIn, Snap and other social platforms as Temu, Shein and other big Chinese retailers cut their ad spending. Apparently Temu has been Meta’s biggest advertiser since 2023. This likely will also affect US web publishers and creators who are monetizing with ads as well.
Block Party is available for Bluesky: “a browser extension that helps users update their privacy and security settings and clean up their content across 12+ platforms, including Bluesky.”
You can now format text in Google Keep notes on the web. This was already available in the Keep Android app.
Google’s latest text-to-video model Veo 2 is now available in Google Vids for Google Workspace accounts. Workspace Business Starter, Enterprise Starter and Nonprofits will have this feature for “a limited time, at least through May 31st, 2026”. That does not apply to Standard, Plus or Essentials plans.
Google says they are using AI to “supercharge safe browsing in Chrome”, fight scams, spam and unwanted notifications, and detect scams in Google Messages.
Google Research shared how they developed a Gemini feature to “Simplify” text without changing the meaning of the original. This is now available in the iOS Google app.
Katie Clark Gray at GoodTape interviewed podcasters, asking: Should Your Newsletter Be a Podcast? “... the story of this moment is less about the newsletterist turned podcaster versus the podcaster turned newsletterist than it is about the need for every creator to “own their audience,” as overused as that phrase may be.”
This is bad, and probably involves hijacked old accounts: Engaget reports on the enshittification of YouTube's full album playlists by scammers.
Hollywood Reporter: Creators Are Building Their Own Supersized Studio System As Hollywood Cuts Back . “YouTube stars now reach as many people as legacy media — and they’re poaching some of the top players to grow even bigger.”
Business Insider reports: Google has quietly entered the movie and TV business. Why? Google wants to promote its tech to young people and also get creatives to adopt its tech products and services like Immersive View (see things in 3D), spatial tools that blend physical and virtual worlds, and AI.
TechCrunch reports: The web series is back — only this time, they’re TikToks
Thanks for reading! 🌼
✉ Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox or favorite feed reader every week. Miss last week’s update? Get the May 3, 2025 edition.
Oliver Darcy reports on “The Daily Dot’s Doom”, “After a sharp and abrupt traffic collapse, The Daily Dot was forced to lay off much of its staff - and it may be a preview of the tough road ahead for digital publishers.” A caveat: Darcy does not appear to identify the source of traffic that collapsed, which makes it harder to understand what happened here.
Photos and Image Design
Microsoft announced new Copilot AI Windows experiences coming soon. The Microsoft Photos app will be able to change the lighting of your photos. The Paint app will let you select objects in an image. And the Snipping Tool lets you take “perfectly framed” screenshots and extract and copy text from images. And there’s a lot more. See the link for details.At Config 2025 Figma announced a suite of new features: Figma Make (prompt-to-code, for example interactive elements), Figma Sites (website builder), Grid (a new auto layout option), Figma Draw (visual design and “free-form creation” tools), and Figma Buzz (collaborative design of social media assets, event materials, and the like, all on brand). It feels like it’s converging with Canva (which I know some “real” designers shun).
Social Media
Meta also announced new tools for advertisers and some advertising tests it’s running.- New advertising formats include Facebook Live Partnership ads, where advertisers can boost live videos.
- The Partnership Ads Hub, with personalized, AI-enabled creator content recommendations are expanding from Instagram to Facebook.
- And Instagram’s Creator Marketplace is making it easier for brands to find creators by adding “AI-powered keyword search suggestions, hook-rate, interaction rate, and creator’s past partners.”
Broderick and Adam Bumas also wrote an article about how “AI content has been devouring Pinterest for months”. It remains to be seen if its new generative AI labels make a difference.
Threads now lets you check your account status, where you can see if you have any content removed or content that won’t be recommended. It also has an option to appeal.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently testified that TikTok triggered a 40% drop in time spent on Instagram (hence the scramble to try to get those users back).. And they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get creators on the platform.
Ex-Facebooker Sarah Wynn-Williams’ book “Careless People” reports on disturbing ad targeting. As Futurism reports: Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman (u/spez) noted “Reddit works because it’s human” and he acknowledged that anonymity (or pseudonymity) is essential to the platform. But that’s not enough. He wrote:
“To keep Reddit human and to meet evolving regulatory requirements, we are going to need a little more information. Specifically, we will need to know whether you are a human, and in some locations, if you are an adult. But we never want to know your name or who you are. The way we will do this is by working with various third-party services that can provide us with the essential information and nothing else.”
Bots will continue to be allowed on Reddit, as long as they are clearly labeled.
US tariffs on Chinese imports may affect the bottom line of Meta, LinkedIn, Snap and other social platforms as Temu, Shein and other big Chinese retailers cut their ad spending. Apparently Temu has been Meta’s biggest advertiser since 2023. This likely will also affect US web publishers and creators who are monetizing with ads as well.
Block Party is available for Bluesky: “a browser extension that helps users update their privacy and security settings and clean up their content across 12+ platforms, including Bluesky.”
Communication and Collaboration
Google Maps has a new feature that uses Gemini to find names of places in your screenshots and then saves them in a list. You can also upload screenshots manually. The saved places will be available in the Maps app. It’s not clear if this will be available to everyone or not.You can now format text in Google Keep notes on the web. This was already available in the Keep Android app.
Google’s latest text-to-video model Veo 2 is now available in Google Vids for Google Workspace accounts. Workspace Business Starter, Enterprise Starter and Nonprofits will have this feature for “a limited time, at least through May 31st, 2026”. That does not apply to Standard, Plus or Essentials plans.
More AI Updates and Tips
Gravatar, the online profile site owned by Automattic, now has an AI Profile Builder. It creates a prompt from your information you can use with AI tools that “remember” things about you.Google says they are using AI to “supercharge safe browsing in Chrome”, fight scams, spam and unwanted notifications, and detect scams in Google Messages.
Google Research shared how they developed a Gemini feature to “Simplify” text without changing the meaning of the original. This is now available in the iOS Google app.
More Reading
Francis Zierer at Creator Spotlight: Information will never be free. “Creators deal in information. Media is information; video, audio, writing. It’s information all the way down. And none of it is free. Information is labor; it is always an exchange.”Katie Clark Gray at GoodTape interviewed podcasters, asking: Should Your Newsletter Be a Podcast? “... the story of this moment is less about the newsletterist turned podcaster versus the podcaster turned newsletterist than it is about the need for every creator to “own their audience,” as overused as that phrase may be.”
This is bad, and probably involves hijacked old accounts: Engaget reports on the enshittification of YouTube's full album playlists by scammers.
Hollywood Reporter: Creators Are Building Their Own Supersized Studio System As Hollywood Cuts Back . “YouTube stars now reach as many people as legacy media — and they’re poaching some of the top players to grow even bigger.”
Business Insider reports: Google has quietly entered the movie and TV business. Why? Google wants to promote its tech to young people and also get creatives to adopt its tech products and services like Immersive View (see things in 3D), spatial tools that blend physical and virtual worlds, and AI.
TechCrunch reports: The web series is back — only this time, they’re TikToks
Thanks for reading! 🌼
✉ Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox or favorite feed reader every week. Miss last week’s update? Get the May 3, 2025 edition.
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